


For Love

by imtheonlybeefcow



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: A little bit of violence, Angst, BROGANES FTW, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Shiro and Keith are brothers, Slow Burn, Spirit AU, adam comes in around chapter 9, couple mentions of drowning, def some angst here, he gets more normal as the story progresses, i would say fantasy au, im new to slow burn so go easy on me, lance is a water spirit, lance seems ooc because he is a water spirit, theres some fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-22
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-04-06 14:36:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14059077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imtheonlybeefcow/pseuds/imtheonlybeefcow
Summary: What happens when Lance, a water spirit who believes in the good in humans, meets Keith, a nature loving teenager who has no idea there exists a whole other world right in his backyard?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I have been working on this piece for a while now and I have finally decided to post the first chapter to see how it goes. I have more written, and I can assure you that it gets so much better. So if enough people like it, I will probably continue with it. (Lets face it, I will probably continue with it until I get bored of it)

Keith had always been fond of nature. He found that it was significantly easier for him to connect with nature rather than people. He took frequent trips to the lake right outside of his house. He used it as an escape from reality. The reality that is schoolwork and his future. Being at the lake allowed him to clear his mind and relax. 

Shiro, Keith's older brother, often found himself having to carry his little brother home after he fell asleep by the lake. Keith hated when this happened. An 18 year old being carried by his 28 year old brother was somewhat embarrassing, but it happened so often, Keith kind of just accepted it. 

When Keith was at the lake, he would sit on the edge and observe. That's it. He never disturbed the surface of the water, for the angle at which the sun's rays reflected off the surface of the lake, caused the surface to appear as though it was decorated in millions of tiny diamonds. 

Sometimes he would take a sketchbook and some colored pencils down with him. He would sit there, sometimes for hours, just drawing. He never showed anyone these drawings and sketches. Shiro knew he would do it, but when he would take Keith home, he never once looked in the sketchbook. Shiro knew how important the drawings were to Keith, and how he never showed them off. But when Shiro noticed his pencils getting dull, he secretly bought Keith a new set and put them on top of the sketchbook on the bedside table. At first, Keith was annoyed, but after learning of the quality of the pencils, he understood Shiro must have spent a lot of money on them. 

The wildlife was slightly different for him. There really wasn't much, and they used to avoid Keith all together. Keith never had any pets growing up, but his best friend did. She was Keith's best friend before she moved away when they were both 12. Keith had been interested in nature his whole life, but she was the reason why he began to love it. They would explore the forest and rivers. She had a dog with her all the time. He was a service dog. Keith asked what his name was and she signed back  _ -His name is Bear- _ This was the closest Keith came to having a pet of his own. 

She taught Keith how to sign so they could communicate easier. But she wasn't the most talkative person. Not just because she couldn't talk. She would drag Keith around and they would just observe. She always had this amazed loom on her face. Even if they had been there before. Keith asked her why she was always so amazed if they had seen it the day before. She signed - _ Thats the thing. It is always different. Every day, something changes. Because I can't listen, I see instead. I see the colors and the lights.-  _

One day, when they were out in the forest, she stopped. She signed to Keith - _ I am leaving tomorrow, for good.- _

_ “ _ What?!” He was so shocked he said that out loud. He quickly started signing back. - _ What! Why are you leaving? Why didn't you tell me, earlier?-  _

_ -I didn't want you to be upset and stop enjoying the nature. I wanted the last days I had with you to be the same as all the rest.- _

_ -Where are you going?- _

_ -I am moving away. Too far away to get to see you every day. When I am gone, I want you to never stop loving nature. Remember me through nature.- _

_ -I won't forget you. I promise.- _

 

He held in all his emotions when he was with her that final day. When he dropped her off at her house, instead of returning home, he went to the lake behind his house. One look at the lake and he broke down. Tears clouding his vision and streaming down his cheeks like the rivers they used to explore. At first he was devastated. Then he got mad. He wasn't sure if he was mad at her or himself, but anger was flowing through his entire body. 

He dropped to his knees. He began hitting the ground over and over and over again. At this point, he didn't care about the damage he was doing to his hands. He just kept slamming his fist down on the ground. He didn't even notice when blood began to paint the grass every time he hit the ground. He didn't notice Shiro behind him trying to get him to stop. Rage and sadness blinded him. 

This went on for a few more minutes. His hands getting more and more scraped up with every strike. Eventually, Shiro had to use force to stop him before he broke anything, if he hadn't already. Before his hands connected with the bloody grass, Shiro grabbed Keith's hands. Keith flinched and looked up. His cheeks and eyes were red. He looked like a mess. Which he was. Shiro spoke calmly. “Woah. Easy there, Keith. Hey, it's okay.”

Keith stopped for a second before beginning to cry again. He buried his head in Shiro’s jacket. He wrapped his arms around him. Shiro didn't mind that Keith was getting blood on it. Shiro rubbed Keith's back to comfort him. “It's okay, Keith.”

Keith continued crying and Shiro was going to wait until he calmed down a bit before he brought him back home. But Keith showed no signs of relaxing. If anything, he was worse. But Shiro had to get Keith home soon so he can clean up his hands.

“Hey, kiddo. We need to get you home.” Shiro whispered gently. “I have to fix up your hands. You scratched them up pretty bad.”

“I did…?” Keith asked. He glanced at his hands and saw the splotched blood on them. He looked surprised and then he looked at the blood stained grass. Shiro brought his attention back to him. 

“Let's get home, okay?”

Without waiting for an answer, Shiro pulled Keith up. Together, they walked back to the house. Keith kept staring at his bloody hands. He couldn't believe he had actually hurt himself in that fit of emotions. His hands were covered in dirt too. It probably made the blood and scratches look worse that they actually were. 

When they got home, Shiro rushed Keith to the kitchen sink before any of the blood got anywhere. Shiro turned the water on. “This might sting just a tiny bit, okay.”

Shiro wasn't lying. The coldness of the water sent shivers down Keith's spine. He watched all the dirt, grass, and traces of blood wash down the drain. Keith didn't really want to see what was underneath all of the dirt, so he looked away. Shiro, on the other hand, was able to see the damage more clearly now. 

Keith's hands were littered with scratches. Most were small and didn't bleed that much. The worst one was on the side of his right hand right under his pinkie finger. That one kept bleeding. When the water hit that spot, Keith's hand jerked back. Shiro had to hold his hand under the running water. 

When all the dirt was gone, Shiro had Keith press paper towel to his hand. He ran to his bathroom to get the bandages. When he got back, he sat Keith on a chair and began to wrap his hands. 

Keith was silent except for the occasional sniffling. Shiro looked up and saw he was fighting back more tears. Shiro finally spoke “You okay?” Knowing the answer he would receive. Keith shook his head, a couple of tears escaped and rolled down his cheeks before hitting the ground with a soft splat. 

“I know, kiddo.”

“No you don't!” Keith snapped. Shiro was surprised he spoke. “You don't know.”

“We lost mom and dad.” Keith's eyes widened at the words. Shiro almost continued. “I almost lost you.”

“But she's not dead, Shiro!”

“And…?”

“She left. She left me. Knowing that she's out there somewhere and I'm not part of her life anymore…” Keith's voice trailed off. 

“Yeah. Knowing that she's still out there and that it's possible to see her again whereas if I lost you that day, I'd never ever see you again. Real crushing.” 

“What the fuck, Shiro.”

“Hey! Watch your language.”

“Sorry.”

*     *     *

_ I have to get out of here to find him.  _ The spirit had been planning this escape ever since they found out that escape was a possibility. The Guardian would kill them if they ever found out someone left the lake. 

There were two main methods to getting out, one was leaving before they could get caught by the Guardian, and the other was to get banished. Both were near impossible. Nobody was ever successful at the first method. Those who were brought back after a failed attempt, would be punished severely. They were usually never the same after. 

For this particular spirit, things seemed to be against them. Because they were being trained to be the next Guardian, they rarely left the current Guardian’s sight. Training was exhausting, consisting of mostly strengthening its channeling powers. Every so often, the Guardian would allow his heir to take a short break. This would be the only time they could even try escaping. 

It would also be difficult because the bond between the Guardian and its heir was a particularly strong one. Its absence from the lake would be easily noticed, which meant it had to work quickly. It decided it would have to go when it is raining outside so it can make use of its water travel. 

So why does this spirit need to leave? Why does any spirit need to leave? Every Time a spirit left, it was because of a human. Spirits of all kinds were told to avoid any human contact. Humans were thought of as harmful. Some spirits will become infatuated with a human. This spirit has fallen victim to this very problem. About twelve years ago, it saw it’s first human and was instantly intrigued. They were both young at the time. 

The life force emitted from the human was intoxicating. The spirit wanted to feel it again. Normally, humans are nothing special, but this human child was different. He was curious. He had no intent to harm, he just wanted to know more about the environment when he fell into the lake. Just as the boy was curious about the lake,  the spirit was curious about the boy. 

It tried so hard to forget about the human child. It really did. But once a spirit becomes interested in anything, the thoughts of that never leave them. It asked some of its fellow spirits about their take on its situation. Most of them laughed or didn't believe what it said was true, for this spirit was known for its occasional jokes. 

Word must have gotten around because one day, while training with the Guardian, it asked the spirit about it. With great concern and a hint of anger, the Guardian said to the spirit, “My dear young one, I have heard of your current predicament”

“You have?”

“Yes, specifically the one about the human boy you tossed out of our lake 12 years ago. I heard that you may be planning on leaving the lake. Is this true?”

The spirit froze. “Oh no, great Guardian. Those are rumors. I would not dare think of such an absurd idea.” 

“But you are curious of that child. Correct?”

The spirit usually spoke in a much more sophisticated tone only when speaking with the Guardian. “That is correct.” 

“My dear, I have told you countless times that humans are terrible creatures that only wish to harm us and our environment. All that we have created. They want to take it all for themselves.” 

“But this one was different!” Its sophistication fading. 

“All humans are alike. They are monsters. No human has ever given back to us. Even after all we give to them. They don't even care for our existence.”

“You're wrong!” It quickly covered its own mouth with its hands.  _ I shouldn't have said that. Now I'm in trouble...No.  _ It removed its hands from its mouth and continued to speak. “This human  _ is _ different. I felt curiosity. He showed no intention of taking what is ours. He just wanted to know more. And  _ I  _ want to know more.”

The Guardian raised its arms in rage. It summoned two large spirits. “Restrain them.” It ordered. The two spirits swam over to spirit and grabbed it by the wrists. They tackled it to the ground bringing both arms around its back. “Hey! Stop this. No!” It struggled against its attackers. They tightened something around its wrists to keep it from breaking free. They sprayed something in its face. Whatever they sprayed the spirit with must be some sort of sleep inducing spray because the spirit’s body went limp and the others dragged them away. 

The spirit woke up in unfamiliar surroundings. Based on the bars in front of it and the chains around its wrists preventing its movement, it concluded that it was in some sort of cell. It tried to break free by water traveling it's way outside of the chains, but its powers wouldn't work. It looked at what exactly was binding them to the room and on the chains, there was a small symbol etched in. This symbol was commonly used to prevent criminals from using their powers to hurt the Enforcers.  _ Okay, this is definitely a cell, but why am I here? Oh yeah. The Guardian ordered for me to be in here.  _

The spirit struggled even more now. It had to get out. Every time it tried to use any power, the chains would burn around its wrists. Even though these spirits were made of water, they still could feel the burning sensation. It wasn’t a heat kind of burn, it was a searing pain, almost electric. 

It screamed in pain as the sensation burned through its arm up to its shoulder. The more it tried to use the power, the stronger the burning and the greater the pain, but it kept struggling. It had to break free from these chains.

Eventually, the spirit couldn’t feel pain in it’s wrists anymore. It was just numb. It hung its head in defeat. It considered changing into it’s human form, but then it remembered it was only a projection. It certainly didn’t function like a normal human. It felt the presence of another spirit nearby. An Enforcer spirit walked by the cell. It stopped and faced the suffering spirit.

“Hey.” It whispered to the chained up spirit, hoping to get its attention. 

The spirit wouldn’t respond, it knew that this was one of the spirits that had locked them up in there. It was not willing to talk to the Enforcer. They were probably coming to get him for interrogation or some kind of torture.

“I’m going to get you out of here.” It said. The chained spirit looked up. It rolled its eyes and looked back down at the ground. The Enforcer noticed the doubt. “No, seriously. I have the key to those chains.”

“What do you want from me? I didn’t do anything. Why am I even locked up?”

“That’s why I’m letting you out. I heard the Guardian say that they were going to do some pretty awful stuff to you. Like they do to those who attempted to escape. They are treating this situation like you had tried to escape.”

“But I didn’t!”

“Keep your voice down. I don’t want the others to hear.” The Enforcer entered the cell and went to work unlocking the chains.

“Why are you helping me?” 

“I don't know.”

“Do you know how much trouble you can get into?”

“I'm aware.”

“Then why? Why help someone you don't know? Why help a criminal?”

“I don't know! I just get this feeling that you're important, ya know?” They paused. Looking towards the floor, they continued in a hushed tone. “I don't trust the Guardian.”

The chained up spirit stared in shock. The Enforcer continued. “I don't think what he does is right for us. I was there when you saved that human. The Guardian would have let them die and then disposed of the child. His hatred for humans is only hurting us spirits. You let them live. Even if it wasn't by choice, you did it.” 

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“You can change things. You can prove to the Guardian that humans aren't all bad.” 

The Enforcer held out a disk decorated with the same symbol as the chains around the spirits wrists. They held the disk over the chains and the symbols glowed a bright yellow. With a pop, the chains broke in half and sank to the ground.

The room filled with the sounds of blaring alarms and overhead lights flashed red. The spirit covered their ears and closed their eyes. The Enforcer that stood in front of them grabbed their arms and pulled them away from their ears. The spirit looked up. 

The Enforcer looked them dead in the eyes and spoke in a calm voice. “Get out of here. Now. I can only hold them off for a little bit.”

“What about you! You'll be caught!”

“I know. Please. Go find your human.”

The spirit nodded and took off. They water traveled their way out of the building they were being held in. They winded the halls taking random turns, hoping they would reach the outside soon. Once they burst through the set of double doors, their first instinct was to swim up. That's where the surface was after all. 

They didn't look back. They assumed they were being chased, but they tried desperately to push that thought in the back of their mind. They just had to get to the surface. So close. So damn close. 

They saw the bright orb of light in the sky. Its image distorted by the light waves created by the gentle blow of the wind. Escape was within reach. It broke the surface of the water and threw itself on the land nearby. It jumped to its feet and began to run. That was all it could do. There was no water to water travel to. It stumbled as it made its way to the mid-sized house in the distance. 

Something grabbed their ankle. They fell to the ground and quickly turned to see what it was. An arm reached out of the water. It was huge and must have belonged to the Guardian. A voice bellowed “You shall not leave, spirit!” 

The spirit didn't reply. They only focused on releasing themself from the Guardian’s grasp. After much struggling and little progress, the arm began to retract back into the lake, with the spirit in tow. They flipped on their stomach and dug their fingers into the ground. They never noticed their hand turning into a milk chocolate color. 

But their grip suddenly got stronger. The pulling stopped. The strong force around their ankle faded until the spirit was alone again. They scrambled to their feet and sprinted towards the house again, desperate to finally meet the human that has plagued their mind since they first encountered him long ago. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who is this mysterious water creature and what do they want with Keith?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready for some backstory!!

Keith turned on the sink in his bathroom. Instead of going down the drain, the water began to swirl around like vortex. Keith ran out of there back into his room and slammed the door behind him. He moved as far away from the bathroom as he could possibly be. He watched as the swirling water escaped from the bathroom through the space between the doorframe and the door. It snaked its way around the room as if it was looking for something.

It came to an abrupt stop when it got near Keith. It stayed in one spot as the rest of it caught up. It dropped to the ground and began to swirl in tighter circles at a fast pace. Something began to take shape as the rings rose. It looked like the water was filling up some sort of mold. Keith noticed it took a human like shape. When it reached the top of the head, the water figure gracefully floated down to the ground.

Keith stared in disbelief at the _thing_ that was in front of him right now. The features were very vague, like it was an unfinished sketch. But there was just enough detail to tell its emotions. It looked happy right now. Eyes wide and a huge grin. And then it spoke to Keith.

“I’ve found you!” It said playfully. Its voice sounded like a normal human male’s voice except that it sounded slightly muffled. It took an awkward step towards Keith, who tried to back up further, but just ended up hitting the wall. “I’m sorry. I’m not used to walking.” the figure said with a chuckle.

Keith couldn’t speak. It was as if his voice had been stolen. _What the hell is going on?_ He looked around trying to find an escape route. He saw that he may be able to run to the right to avoid having to deal with his bed. While the thing was staring at its liquid legs, Keith took off. It must have incredible reflexes, because Keith had only taken about three steps before something cold grabbed his wrist.

Keith spun around. It looked sad. “Aw, you can’t go yet.” Keith was terrified that this thing was going to kill him. He looked at his wrist and saw the hand made of water. He tried to scream, but the figure threw a bubble of water at Keith’s mouth so he wouldn’t be able to make a noise. But he also couldn’t breathe. He stopped struggling in hopes of being released. Which he was. The creature withdrew the bubble, but it didn’t let go of Keith’s wrist.

Keith finally found his voice. “W-what are you?”

“I am a Spirit of Water. I believe I have saved your life Keith.”

“Wha-?”

The “spirit” grabbed Keith's hands and water began to flow up across the surface of his skin. Keith tried to break free, but it's grip was a lot stronger than he thought it would be. The water traveled across his shirt, surprisingly not getting it wet. It made its way around Keith's neck. _Oh my god, this thing is going to kill me._ Keith tried to yell out to Shiro, but his voice wouldn't work.

Keith was blinded by a flash of light followed by an eternal darkness. His memories rewinding themselves to a mild autumn evening about 12 years ago. The day he almost died.

***     *     ***

Keith was about six years old when it happened. His brother, age 16, was inside the house cooking dinner for the two of them and Keith had wandered around outside in their backyard. Their house sat on the edge of a lake so it wasn't too far from the home. Keith often found himself out there despite how much his father scolded him for it. He just loved it too much. It was interesting to a six-year-old. He never actually touched the water though. He just sat on the edge and observed the animals. And when his brother would call for him, he would pretend he was just playing in the backyard.

Keith was getting bored of seeing the same things. He wanted something new. Then he looked into the lake and got an idea. He made his way to the edge of the water and looked straight down. He could see his reflection in the sparkling blue water. He was instantly intrigued. He reached his small arm out to touch the strange picture that was in front of him. The surface was much further than Keith's arms could reach. He lost his balance and toppled headfirst into the lake.

The first thing he noticed was that it was cold. Really cold. All of his muscles seized at the sudden change in temperature. Now he couldn't move. The second thing he noticed was he had no idea what to do. He started flailing his weak arms but they accomplished absolutely nothing. He couldn't keep his head out the water and he found himself doing everything in his power just to get one gasp of air before he was pulled under again. Because he was underwater, he couldn't yell out to his brother. He was panicking and scared.

Pretty soon, his body began to shut down due to the cold temperature and the lack of oxygen. He was more scared than ever right now. He didn't know what was going on or what to do. His vision started to fade. He couldn't get in enough air for a decent breath before he went back under. He was exhausted from all of the struggling. Eventually, he gave in and let himself go. His body went limp as he lay face down in the water.

There was something was watching him. Not his brother. Not the animals surrounding the lake. It was a strange creature at the bottom of the lake. The water was just as alive as the rest of the scenery. A small humanoid figure about the same size as the drowning boy, watched from the depths. These creatures have the ability to detect life in their environment. In this case, the water creature could feel Keith's life energy. As it watched on, the energy began to fade. It didn't know what that meant but it kind of hurt. As the life drained from the boy, pain was felt in the creature. All it knew was it had to stop this.

The creature surfaced and moved towards the boy who was now not moving. It inspected the boy. It's first thought was to get it out of the water. The Guardian had taught them that if there was something in the water that wasn't supposed to be there, they need to summon a wave. The wave carried the foreign objects out. The life force of the object in front of it now was unlike anything the Guardian described as unwanted. But it was causing the creature pain so it decided to summon its wave.

The creature heard something yelling in the distance, it sounded like it was getting closer. It had been told that nobody is allowed to see them. It knew it had to do it fast, but at this early in its existence, creating the waves was difficult. It focused all its power on the lake. It asked for its assistance in removing the child. Thankfully, the lake responded quickly. A wave just big enough to carry the boy out of the water was formed and took care of it all. The creature thanked the lake, for the pain it felt was now gone.

It was at this moment that the creature realized that the pain it felt, was also the pain the boy felt. It grew curious of the child who was now lying on the side of the lake. He was still not moving. Was the boy still in pain? It moved in closer so it could get a better look at the child. Then it heard the yell again. It kept repeating the same word.

Keith.

The person calling the name was getting closer. The boy must have been who they were calling out to because as soon as the man saw him, his yelling got louder and more distressed. The creature dove back underwater so it could not be seen.

 

Shiro called for him to come in because dinner was ready. Usually, Keith came in pretty fast, but this time, it had already been two minutes and there had been no signs of him coming back. Shiro began to think where he could have gone to. Then he remembered the lake and how Keith always went down there. He started off in that direction, calling Keith’s name as he walked.

As he got closer, he could see small red jacket lying on the ground. It was Keith’s, but the child was not there. His brother was becoming worried as he received no response from any of his calls. He saw the pond in the distance and on the edge, there was a small child lying on the ground. Shiro knew something was wrong and he took off full sprint to his brother.

Keith was soaking wet and unresponsive. His heartbeat was very faint and his breathing almost nonexistent. His body temperature was clearly below average. He didn't seem to have any other injuries. He quickly pulled out his cell phone from his pocket and dialed the numbers 911. A woman answered and in a calm voice she spoke. “911. What’s your emergency?”

In a shaky voice, Shiro responded. “Uh I need an ambulance.”

“Can you tell me your location and if anyone is injured or in danger.”

Shiro told her the address and then went on to tell her what he knew. “My brother... He’s six. I think he fell into the lake. He is unresponsive and his body temperature is really low.”

“We are sending an ambulance right now, sir.”

Shiro stopped paying attention after that. He wasn’t sure if the woman kept talking. All of his attention was focused on Keith at the moment. He had to get Keith closer the the front of the house. He carefully picked up the child. His body was so cold. He didn’t know the severity of, but he knew it was bad. He held Keith close to his body hoping some body heat would be transferred.

That didn’t seem to happen as Keith was still as cold as before.

They were in the backyard when the ambulance showed up. The paramedics quickly made their way to them. They had a stretcher with them. Shiro didn’t want to leave his brother’s side, but he knew that this was the paramedics job. They were going to help them. They were doing all sorts of things and one even began to perform CPR on the boy. Not long after they started, Keith body jerked violently and he turned on his side. He was coughing a lot of stuff up. Mostly water. God, there was so much water. His body was shaking even after he stopped coughing.

The paramedics put an oxygen mask on the child and began to transfer him onto the stretcher. Shiro was too focused on Keith to realize that one of the paramedics was standing right in front of him. She kneeled down in front of him and calmly spoke to him. “Sir, are you his brother?”

“Yeah. My brother’s name is Keith.”

“We will take care of Keith. I need you to tell me all that happened.”

Shiro told them everything he knew. Which wasn’t much. He told them he had found his brother soaking wet, and unconscious on the edge of the lake. She kept asking questions, and it was almost as if she were trying to distract him from his brother. Pretty soon, the paramedics had gotten Keith on the stretcher and were ready to get him in the ambulance and off to the hospital. A team of them worked quickly to load the stretcher and the paramedic with Shiro guided Keith into the back so he could be with his brother.

His mind was foggy, but he heard them saying something about temperature dropping. They were rushing around trying to provide any heat they could. Seeing their brother lying unconscious in an ambulance headed straight to the hospital was a sight that no one should ever have to go through. “He’s going to be alright, right?”

The lady looked at him and smiled “We are doing everything we can right now.” That didn’t really convince Shiro, but he had to trust them. They were professionals. He kept his eyes on his brother. Now, the paramedics were covering his body in blankets to try and keep his body from losing any more heat. They already had to cut the wet clothes off of him so that they wouldn’t cause any more damage to him.

After what seemed like the longest ride ever, they finally arrived at the pediatric emergency room. They got the stretcher in the building and then a few nurses rushed up to Keith and began taking his vitals. They were giving each other commands right and left. They then took the stretcher and wheeled it past a set of double doors. Shiro tried to follow but one nurse held him back. “Kid, I’m sorry, but I cannot let you go past there.”

“But he’s my brother! What if he wakes up? He will be terrified. Please. He needs me.”

“I’m sorry. I cannot let you do that.”

“Please!”

The nurse had to sit him down in one of the chairs.The nurse smiled. “Let us handle this. We will come and get you if anything gets out of hand. Where are your parents?”

“Out in town.” Shiro said. He gave them the number so they could contact his parents.

 

Keith eventually woke up, the problem was, he had no idea where he was at the time. His eyes fluttered open and he had to blink his eyes a few times so he could see clearly. He was faced with a team of people all dressed in white clothes. They were rushing around him. Where was he? Who are these people? What are they doing to him? His heart rate rapidly increased and then he heard a loud beeping noise behind him. It startled him and soon all the people were gathered around him. They were talking to him. Asking him questions.

He was too scared to talk to them so he started screaming for his brother. He desperately wanted Shiro with him. Everything around him was completely unfamiliar to him. That scared him even more. He didn’t know why he was with all of these people in white. Every time one tried to get closer to him, he would scream louder.

One of the people asked another one, “Hey, do you think we should get Allura.”

“But she is usually reserved for extreme cases.

“I would call this pretty extreme. We have to get…” She paused and looked at the clipboard in her hand. “...Keith’s heart rate down. It’s crucial. We need Allura.” The other nurse nodded and grabbed the phone that was hanging on the wall.

“We are going to need Dr. Allura. Stat. We’ve got a young boy who can’t seem to calm down enough to bring his heart rate down. It’s dangerously high.” She hung the phone back on the wall and then walked over to the side of Keith’s bed, looking at the monitor above his head and writing the numbers on the clipboard.

About thirty seconds later, a new woman walked into the room. She had dark skin and lavender hair. An unlikely combination, but on her, it worked. She looked really serious. This frightened Keith more. He was screaming and crying now. The woman walked up to the side of his bed and pulled out a plush lioness from her coat. It was a darkish red color. The woman handed it to the crying child. He hesitated but he took it. He held it close to his chest.

“Her name is Red. She will protect you. I promise. What’s your name, sweetie?” The new doctor’s voice was much more soothing, but Keith was still not going to answer her. His heart rate was steadily dropping. Without doing much at all, Dr. Allura managed to calm him down enough to get his heart rate down to a more stable rhythm. Keith finally mumbled something.

“I want Shiro.”

“And who is Shiro?”

“Brother.”

“Ok. I’ll tell you what. You answer a couple questions and then we will go find Shiro. First question, what’s your name?”

“Keith.”

“Ok, Keith. Can you tell me how old you are?”

He held up six fingers. Dr. Allura looked surprised. “Wow! You are already six?” Keith smiled and nodded.

“Very good! Okay last question. How are you feeling?”

“Cold.” That’s all he really could feel.

“We’re going to fix you right up, Keith. Let’s get you to a place where you can see Shiro.”

 

Shiro had been sitting on the edge of his seat ever since he had been denied access to his brother. Their parents hadn't shown up yet. If they ever were going to. Shiro didn't know. Just then, he heard someone scream his name.

It was Keith.

Shiro bolted upright. He looked around the room. He looked to the direction in which they originally wheeled Keith off. He ran over to the reception desk.

“Please let me go see him. I'm his brother! He needs me with him.”

“I'm sorry, but we need to have the doctor see him before he is allowed any visitors.”

Shiro himself had begun to feel dizzy. The screams of his brother were becoming fuzzy. His legs felt wobbly and he could hear the receptionist calling out to him. She then grabbed the phone and asked for assistance to come. The person they sent got there just as Shiro collapsed to the floor. The male nurse caught him before he hit the ground.

Shiro woke up and he was laying on some sort of bed. He didn't remember how he got there. There was a women in the room. “How did I get here?” Shiro asked.

“Oh you're awake. How do you feel?”

“Fine. What am I doing here?”

“You fainted in the lobby. That's all.”

_Keith!_ He suddenly sat up. And got off the bed. “Please take me to my brother.”

“Who might that be?”

“Keith.”

“Oh. The little boy with hypothermia.”

“What?”

“Is he your younger brother? He definitely is a feisty one. They had to call in Dr. Allura.

“What does that mean?”

“She is one of our best doctors here. We only call her in for extreme cases like your little brother.”

“Extreme?”

“Yeah. Little Keith wouldn't stop screaming for you. His heart rate got dangerously high. They tried to mildly sedate him, but it didn't do much and they didn't want to up the dose without parental consent. So they had to called in Dr. Allura to calm him down.”

“Well did she do it?”

“A few minutes ago, he stopped screaming so I would say that it worked.”

“I need to go see him. Now.”

“Alright, let me just finish putting this into the system and then I take you to his room.”

After a moment of typing, the nurse helped Shiro up and gave him a sticker to put on his shirt. “This allows you to go back and see him. You will most likely be asked a lot of questions. Keith may not have cooperated enough to answer the questions.”

“Got it.” Shiro said. He finally got to walk past those double doors Keith was taken behind. The nurse led him around a few corners and then they stopped at a door. The nurse opened it and they both walked in. Inside was Keith laying on a bed. And a female doctor was sitting by the bedside. Shiro noticed that Keith was crying and  shivering. He had his eyes were squeezed shut. There were a large number of blankets piled on top of him.

“Dr. Allura, I brought in Keith's older brother.”

“Ah yes thanks for bringing him in here   We were about to start Keith's treatment for the hypothermia. We are going to place an IV in his arm and get some warm fluids flowing back into his body. We are also going to warm his airways with some humidified oxygen through a mask.”

Shiro didn't know what half of that meant, but he was told their parents arrived and agreed to this treatment. He walked over to his younger brother. Keith must have not known Shiro was there because when Shiro touched his shoulder, he flinched and his eyes shot open. When he noticed who it was, he held out his arms calling his brothers name.

Shiro grabbed Keith's hands and brought them down to his lap. Keith looked confused. “Listen, Keith. These people are going to help you. They help get you all warmed up again, but you have to be calm, okay?”

Keith looked scared. Shiro saw him hugging some sort of stuffed animal. It was a deep red lioness. “Hey, buddy. Who's that you've got there.”

Keith finally spoke. “Red. Doctor gave her to me. She said Red would protect me.”

Shiro looked over at Doctor Allura. She smiled and nodded. Shiro focused back on his little brother. A new group of people walked into the room. They were dressed in brightly colored animal print nurse  outfits. They wheeled in a tray that had various medical equipment. Keith instantly tensed up. “It's okay, Keith. Remember, they are going to help you. Red will protect you.” Keith nodded.

The nurses went to work in inserting the IV. It felt warm. Then they slipped a mask over his face. It frightened him at first, but Shiro assured him that it was alright. Heat was finally being restored to his body. It was much more comfortable now. Keith realized just how exhausted his body was. He finally got to rest knowing that he was safe in the hands of these people.

***     *     ***

Keith abruptly opened his eyes. He saw the watery figure standing in front of him, still holding on to his hands. The stream of water that flowed up his arms was gone, but his hair was dripping wet. He tried to take a step back, but he tripped over his own feet and landed on his butt. The figure looked shocked.

“Oh no! Did I do something bad? You have fallen backwards. Are you okay?”

Keith was barely able to process what just happened. “Who- what are you??” This was all he managed to ask.

The creature sat down on the floor in front of Keith. “Hmmm. How is it you humans put it? I am your…neighbor?”

“I'm pretty sure only people live in the houses around us.”

“No no no. You are mistaken. I do not live in a ‘house’ as you say. My home is water. That small body of water not too far from here. Just past those trees. That is my home.”

“You live in water? What exactly are you?”

“Like I said before. I am a Spirit of Water.”

“What does that even mean?”

“Well. It could mean a lot of things. To me, it means I am training to be the next Guardian.”

“Well to me it means that I am going insane!”

“Why is that?”

Keith pointed at the spirit. “You don't exist. There is no such thing as a ‘Spirit of Water’! I'm just imagining things. God, I must be sleep deprived.”

The spirit looked hurt. But then it's eyes widened as if it figured something out. “Oh, I understand why you are denying my existence. Us spirits typically avoid humans. Humans destroy and take. We create and give. I know, maybe this appearance will better suit your liking.”

The spirit stepped away from Keith, who was still backed up against the foot of his bed. It closed its eyes and turned it palms towards the ceiling. Thin streams of water no bigger than a shoelace emerged from its hands. They circled around the spirit’s body like it had done to Keith’s neck. They spiraled up and down the body made of water. With each pass of the stream, the body gained more color, like a very strange printer, an image was slowly appearing.

The image became clearer and much more vibrant in color. When the image was complete, the streams of water returned to its hands and disappeared from sight. What was left was the image of a human boy. He was taller than Keith, and he had a darker complexion. His eyes glowed a bright blue. His hair trimmed short and the color of milk chocolate. He had on a baseball style t-shirt with blue sleeves. He put his hand on his hips. “How’s this?” It’s almost like he changed his personality to match his appearance.

“Oh my God.”

“What? Do you not like it?”

“I’m going insane.”

Just then the door to Keith’s room opened. In walked Shiro who looked really confused when he saw the “boy” in Keith’s room along with Keith pinned against the bed. “Woah. Sorry to interrupt you two…” He said grinning.

Keith’s cheeks turned bright red when he realized what Shiro was hinting at. “I-It’s not what you think!”

“Oh suuure.”

“Shiro!”

Shiro laughed. “I’m just messing with you. So, who is this? Did you actually make a friend?!”

“This is…” _Shit. What am I supposed to tell him? This thing doesn’t have a name, does it?_ “This is someone from school. We were assigned a project together. We were just working on it. We aren’t exactly friends.”

“That’s too bad. Wait. Why is your hair soaking wet?”

Damn, he forgot about that. He had to quickly think of an excuse. “Uhh… I just took a shower.”

“Finally. Well I’ll leave you to your project. Nice to meet you...uhhh”

“Lance.” The spirit smiled back. “A pleasure to meet you to.”

As Shiro was leaving the room, he turned back and looked at Keith. “Lance seems like a good person. Maybe you two should hang out more and you can learn a couple things from him.”

“Shut up, Shiro.”

Shiro walked out and closed the door behind him. As soon as Keith heard the click of the door, He jumped up and grabbed the spirit by the collar. _Wait. How am I able to grab his shirt. I thought he was made of water._ Instinctively, he let go. The spirit just looked confused. Keith could easily see it now that it had a human face.

“Why are you here? What do you want with me?”

“I want your help.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I'm posting this the day after the first chapter, but chapter 2 is my favorite chapter that I've written. So after this chapter, there will be a lot more time between chapters.


	3. Chapter 3

“You... need my help…”

“Yes.”

“Oh my God. This isn’t real.” Keith backed up slowly. His back hit his bed frame and he slid to the ground. He had his knees close to his chest and his arms resting on top. He held his head in his hands. “Oh my god. This isn’t real. It will all go away.” Keith had his eyes closed. “Just breathe, Keith, breathe.” He told himself.

Lance, as the spirit became know, knelt down in front of Keith. He gently grabbed Keith’s hands just like Shiro had done 12 years ago in the hospital. Keith flinched at the familiar touch. For a split second, Keith only saw another human in front of him. Nothing was strange. Keith glanced at the human hands holding his. He noticed what looked like burn marks wrapped around Lance’s wrists. “What are those… marks?”

Lance looked down at his hands and let go of Keith’s in shock. “Oh! I didn’t realize the chains actually left marks.”

“Chains?!”

“Yeah, from when I was locked up.”

“What are you? A criminal?”

“Is that what you humans call people who get in trouble?”

“Uhh, I guess so.”

“Then yes. I am a criminal. And don’t worry. I can heal these scars.”

“I wasn’t exactly worrying.” Keith said under his breath.

Lance held out his hands like he did when he transformed. The same ribbons of water flowed from his palms. This time, the water had a faint green glow to them. They wrapped themselves around Lance’s wrists. He waited for about 30 seconds, but nothing seemed to be happening. Lance looked confused. “Um is something supposed to happen?” Keith asked him.

“Yes...but…”

“But?”

“But… I don’t understand.” Lance spoke faster and more frantic. “It is supposed to heal me. What happened to my powers? Why aren’t they working.” The look on Lance's face turned from confused to concerned. The rings around his wrists faded to a red color. “Aghhh!” Lance dropped to the ground holding his wrists. The rings disappeared. The skin that they covered was now steaming and the burn marks looked like they just happened.

Keith jumped up and instinctively rushed to Lance. “Woah. Hey. That wasn’t supposed to happen right?” Lance nodded still holding his wrists. “Can I...take a look?” Lance didn’t make any movements to show Keith. He just sat there.

The door to Keith’s room burst open. Shiro stood in the doorway. “I heard somebody yell. Is everything alright?” Shiro saw Lance holding his wrists looking like he was in pain. Shiro ran over and shoved Keith out of the way. “What happened?!” Shiro grabbed Lance’s hands, and saw the burns. His eyes widened. Keith realized what Shiro thought had happened.

“It’s not that Shiro!” Keith said to quickly correct that assumption. We were just doing a science project and it had to do with fire…”

“So it was an accident?”

Lance spoke up. “Yeah. I’m alright. I promise.”

“Your wrists don’t look like they are alright. These look like some pretty bad burns.”

“Shiro, I can handle this. I caused it. I have to fix it.” Keith said. He really just wanted Shiro to get out of there so Lance doesn’t reveal anything about what he really.

“Okay. You sure you can do that, Keith.”

“How old do you think I am? I have experienced burns before. I’ve got this.”

“If you say so. Just promise me you will get me if you need help. And no more fire. Got it.”

“Got it, Shiro.”

Shiro hesitated as he got up and left. Keith’s attention went right back to Lance. “Are you sure you are alright?”

“Yeah. It’s not really the burns that hurts. It’s the fact that my healing powers didn’t heal. They hurt. I don’t know why, though. In the past, they have always worked.”

Keith saw the rapid increase of worry in Lance’s voice. “Hey. Calm down, alright? Is it because you are in some kind of human form right now? Do you have to be in your normal form for it to work?”

Lance shook his head. “No, you saw it begin the healing process. The green signifies healing. The red means hurting. We only use it for self defense against intruders. It should have worked unless…”

“Unless what?”

“Unless those chains did something to me.” Lance touched the marks. He winced. “They caused the initial marks every time I attempted to use my powers to escape. They must have had some other lasting effect as well.”

“Well if you can’t use your healing powers, I’ll have to use mine.”

“You can heal me?!”

Keith laughed. “Depends on if your body also acts human too.”

“I think it does. I haven’t really used this form in a while.”

Why is he helping this thing? He doesn’t know why it came here in the first place. It never really explained the whole thing. But Keith wasn't really concerned about that at the moment, he just wanted to help him. Obviously he didn’t intend to harm Keith.

Keith left Lance on the floor of his room and went over to his bathroom. The door was still closed from when the spirit showed up. Keith was kind of worried about what it would look like in there. When he opened the door, he saw something he did not expect. The bathroom looked exactly the same as before, like nothing had happened. He went over to the cabinet above the toilet. He grabbed the bandages he had in there. With the amount of fights Keith used to get in, Shiro made him keep some in his own bathroom because he got tired of patching him up every time it happened. He also grabbed the small tube of Neosporin that sat next to the bandages.

He walked back over to Lance. “The good news is, they don't look like really bad burns. Honestly, I don't know if this will work, but it’s worth a shot. This is how I would treat burns. Here hold out your hand.”

Lance did as he was told. Keith put a little bit of the Neosporin on his fingers. “Put this on your wrist. You said it didn’t hurt that much, so it should be fine. It will probably be a little cold though, but it should help a little with the pain.” Lance did it and Keith was right. It did relieve a little of the pain that was still present there. After he put it on both wrists, Keith took hold of Lance’s hands. He began to gently wrap the bandages around his wrists. “What is this supposed to do? I thought you said you were going to heal me.” Lance asked.

“I am. This is how humans do it. It takes time. We can’t heal instantly like you can.” Keith continued to wrap Lance up. “Hey you never finished telling me.”

“Telling you what?”

“Why you came here. I know you said you needed my help, but for what?”

“That is such a long story and I’m not sure you want to hear it.”

“Oh yeah? Why is that?”

“You may not want to help me if I tell you my reasons.”

“We will never know unless you tell me.”

“Okay, I guess you deserve to know. Where do I start?”

“Start with what I am supposed to help you with.”

“I need your help hiding from the Guardian.”

“Is this who you escaped from?”

Lance told him why he was taken in the first place. He told Keith that he is the reason. Lance was curious. Lance told Keith about what spirit/human interactions and how that can lead to an uncontrollable desire to learn more. He told him about how the Guardian locked him up once they found about about his plan for escape. And finally, Lance told Keith about what could happen if he was caught and taken back.

“So, you can’t ever go back?”

“As of right now, no.” Lance looked down. “I can’t return to my home or bad things could happen to me.”

“Like what? If you don’t mind me asking.”

“Nobody is really sure. I imagine they would lock me up again. I don’t know what would happen to me after that. No spirit is ever the same, so I can only imagine it's very harsh treatment.”

“But why me? Why am I the one that has to help. What about Shiro? He's older.”

“Because I knew you were different. Usually when humans mess with our home, it's to take something from it, but on that day 12 years ago, you didn’t do that. Your life energy was different and it took me so long to realize that.”

“How much do you really know about me?” Keith asked nervously.

“Not much at all. That's another reason why I'm here. I want to know more. I want to prove to the Guardian that not all humans are destroyers and thieves.”

Keith fell back onto his bed. He brought his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. Lance stared at him puzzled and cocked his head to the side. "Is everything alright, Keith?"

It took Keith a moment to realize Lance was talking to him. "Oh. Uh yeah. Everything's fine."   
"It doesn't seem that way."

Keith buried his head in his arms. "It's all just too much to handle right now." his voice was muffled.

"I know. There's still so much I wasn't to tell you. Like for instance, my human projection can-"  
Lance was cut off by a voice coming from downstairs in the kitchen. "Keith come down here!" It was Shiro. "Bring Lance."

"One minute!" Keith yelled back.

Keith slowly got off the bed. He grabbed the red hoodie that was on the floor and pulled it over his head. "C'mon." He motioned for Lance to follow him. The boys headed down the stairs and into the kitchen where Shiro stood tapping his foot impatiently.

"What do ya want?" Keith asked.

"We are going to the store." Shiro held up the car keys.

"Why do we have to come?" Keith responded. He was clearly annoyed.

"Becauuuuse" Shiro said gesturing at Lance, who stood there trying his best to act normal.

"After what you did to him, I don't exactly trust you and him alone. I, for one, want to have a house to sleep in tonight."

Keith sighed. He grabbed one of Lance's wrists and held up his arm. "But what about this. People are going to be suspicious, Shiro."

"Oh. I see you actually helped him. Good job." Shiro said sarcastically. "Hold on." Shiro ran to the back of the house returning with a large blue jacket. He handed it over to Lance. "Here. Wear this so you can cover up your wrists."

Lance didn't question him and took the jacket. He put it on over his shirt and didn't zip it up. Shiro jingled the keys again. "Now that that's settled, let's go."

They walked out of the front door and went to the side of the house where the garage is. There was a black SUV in there next to a red motorcycle. “Keith, you and lance sit in the back, okay?”

“I’m not a kid anymore, Shiro.”

“Well yeah, but it would be polite to sit with your guest in the back. Oh but you wouldn’t know that because you never have friends over.”

“Damn Shiro.”

Shiro laughed. “Sorry, kiddo. I just have to tease you some. It’s part of the job description.”

Keith sighed. “Why do I always have to deal with this.” he mumbled to himself.

*     *     *

They walked into the store and Shiro stopped them as they passed the cash registers. He pulled out a small piece of paper with a list of items on it. “You two are responsible for getting these. Please do not get in trouble like last time.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “I don’t know what you are talking about.” he said sarcastically.

“Mmmhmmm…” Shiro said as he grabbed a cart and pushed it towards Keith. “We will meet back up here in roughly 30 minutes, okay?”

“Yeah yeah. Got it.” Keith took the cart and gestured for Lance to follow him. They walked towards the first items on the list which were all things like toothpaste and shampoo. Keith looked over at Lance whose face was full of wonder. It was actually kind of cute how amazed he was by the simplest things. But finally, Keith was able to continue their conversation from earlier that was interrupted.  

"So what were you trying to tell me before we left?"

"Oh yeah. There's something you must know about my human projection."

"And that would be- oof-" Keith ran into somebody and was knocked on his butt. He looked up to see who he ran into. They were two large guys. They looked like they were slightly older than Keith. They had animal like faces and wore clothes stained with who knows what. They had an awful smell of somebody who hadn't taken a shower in a week. One of them had a crooked nose. He probably broke it in a fight or something. He glared at Keith who was still on the ground.

"Hey! Watch it shorty." Keith recognized the voice. It belonged to one of his classmates. The only one in school to use that nickname.

“Don't call me ‘shorty’.” Keith said, annoyed at the guys in front of him. He wasn't much shorter than them. But they still took advantage of their height.

“Oh you don't like that, huh? Sorry, little guy.”

“Make one more comment about my height and I'll-”

“And you'll what?” The guy said. Walking closer to Keith who was standing in front of Lance as if to shield him from all of this.

“Keith…” Lance whispered. “I'm getting bad vibes from these people. We should go.”

“You gonna go run off to your big brother, Kogane?” The second guy said. “The one with the metal arm? Is he gonna have to come protect you, again?”

Keith was fuming with anger at this point. He turned around and started walking the other way. Lance followed right next to him. “Yeah. Run away you coward.” The first guy called after them.

This made Keith snap. He had held back his anger because he didn't want to make a scene and get in trouble with Shiro. But calling him a coward was the last straw. Keith whipped around and took off full sprint in the guys direction. He stopped right in front of them, made his hand into a fist, and clocked the first guy right in the jaw. The guy stumbled backwards. One he realized what just happened, he turned towards Keith and lunged right for him.

If Keith didn't have above average reflexes, he would have been caught. He swiftly dodged to the right, avoiding being tackled by the guy. Dodging to the right wasn't the best decision, because that's where the second guy stood. While his partner regained his balance from his failed lunge attack, he grabbed Keith by the collar of his hoodie and shoved him into the display of movies. DVDs fell from the rack scattering all around their feet.

He brought back his enormous hand and sung it directly at Keith's face. His fist connected with Keith's face just missing his left eye. He yelped in pain. His hands were desperately pry the guys had off from his hoodie, but his grip was too strong. He needed to escape fast before they both are able to hit him. Then he remembered Lance was still there. “Lance!” He yelled as loud as he could which wasn't exactly loud because the grip on him was starting to push against his throat. They were attracting quite the crowd now and it was only a matter of time before employees and security showed up.

Lance must have heard Keith because he turned towards the guys. He pointed his index finger at the floor and a small stream of water shot out. It splattered on the floor right as the first guy took a step towards Keith. Then Lance used two fingers on his other hand and moved them down in a straight line. The guy stepped down and instantly fell flat on his face.

“Woah. The ground is slippery. Like it's made of ice.”

The guy holding Keith began to slide around. “What the hell is going on?” He asked as he dropped Keith to the ground. Keith scrambled towards Lance. He grabbed Lance's wrist and started pulling him away. He scooped up the basket of things as well. “We have to go, Lance.”

While they were running away Lance brought up the same two fingers and this time moved them in a straight line up. They heard the guys behind them yelling. “Hey now it's hot. Why’s the ground hot?”

Once they were clear of the threat, they stopped in one of the back aisles. Keith leaned against one of the freezer doors and slid to the ground in exhaustion. He was breathing hard from running so much.“I don't know what you did, but that was pretty great.”

“Oh it was nothing really.” Lance said shyly. “I can control the temperature of my water, so I just froze it so they would slip. Then I evaporated it so nobody would know.”

“You can do that?!”

“Yeah. I've never had much use for it. Until now, I guess. Wait. Your eye..”

“Shit!” Keith said quickly bringing his hand up to his eye. It hurt to touch the area around his eye and he figured it would bruise later if it hadn't already. “Shiro is going to kill me!” He had a sense of panic in his voice. Lance noticed and knelt in front of him.

“Shhh. Don't worry. I've got this.” Lance held up one hand and Keith could see a faint green glow emitting from in the jacket sleeve.

“No!” Keith said urgently. “You'll hurt yourself like last time.”

Lance winced at the words “last time” as he remembered the first time he tried his healing powers. “We won't know until we try.”

He held up his hand and held it next to Keith face. He closed his eyes. Keith could feel the coolness Lance radiated. It was soothing. Green glowing ribbons of water gently circled Keith's eye. It was an odd sensation. The water felt bubbly against his skin. But then it suddenly stopped. Keith looked up at Lance. His eyes widened in confusion. “Hmmm”

“Hmmm what?”

“I can usually do it longer. I'm sorry. I can't heal it all the way.”

“That's fine. Any healing is better than none.” Keith looked around. “We should find Shiro and get out before they find us again.”

Lance got up and then helped Keith stand up. “Okay. If nothing else is going to interrupt us, what have you been trying to say about your projection?” Keith asked.

Lance clapped his hands together as he remembered what he needed to tell Keith. “Ohh yeah!” He said. “My projection won't last forever. I have a… how to put it… a time limit, I guess.”

“And how long does it last?” Keith asked with a hint of worry in his voice.

“Oh don't worry. I think I'll be okay for a little while longer.” Just as he said this, he dropped to his knees. His projection flickered like a dying light bulb. “I take that back.” He managed.

Keith looked panicked. He looked around the aisle to make sure nobody was there. “Damn it.” He muttered dragging Lance to his feet and holding him by the shoulder to keep him stable. “How much longer?”

“Don't know.” Lance said through ragged breathing.

“We have to make it home. Can you do that?”

“I think I can manage. It will take a whole lot of energy though. But I can do it.” He looked up at Keith and put on the best fake smile he could.

“Great.” Keith said. Although not entirely convinced, he had to trust Lance. “If you pretend you're sick, Shiro will definitely hurry. Can you raise your temperature a little.”

“Why?”

“When humans are sick, their temperature rises. Trust me.”

Lance nodded and weakly lifted his two fingers and drew an invisible line upward. Keith instantly felt the rise in temperature. He touched Lance's forehead to make sure it would be believable. Once he deemed Lance “sick”, they set off to find Shiro so they could get out of there. Fast.

Once they saw Shiro near the front of the store, they sprinted (as quickly as they could given Lance’s condition) over to him. “Shiro!!” Keith called out and Shiro turned to see who it was. His eyes widened at the sight of the two boys. The first thing he noticed was Keith's eye. “What happened to you?!”

“Doesn't matter. We need to go. Now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah who knows when I will update this. It's not like many people read it anyways...


	4. Chapter 4

“Why so urgently?”

“Lance doesn't feel good. Like at all.” Keith gestured towards his friend who was leaning heavily on him. Shiro nodded and they rushed to check out. When the cashier saw Lance, she checked them out as fast as she could. 

When they got in the car, Keith sat in the back with Lance. Lance had his eyes closed for a majority of the trip to the car. . He only opened them when Keith shook his shoulder and said “Hey, Lance. You alright?” 

Shiro turned around and placed his human hand on Lance’s forehead just as Keith had done earlier. “He’s definitely feverish.” 

Lance groaned and turned over on his side.  _ It must be getting painful to keep up the projection.  _ “Shiro. Please hurry.” Keith said. Shiro started the car and pulled away from the store’s parking lot. When they were on the road, Shiro started asking more questions. 

“What happened?” 

“To who?”

“Well Lance seems to be the one suffering the most back there so we’ll start with him.”

“Like I said, he's sick.” 

“But why so suddenly?” 

“Do I look like a doctor to you?”

“I don't need your sass right now, Keith. But speaking of doctors, maybe we should go to one to get you two checked out-”

“No!!” Keith interrupted. 

Shiro paused for a second then continued. “Why not…?”

“I’m pretty sure there's just a stomach bug going around school. He probably has that. It should go away in a day.” 

“Well then I'll take him home. Do you know where he lives?”

“We can't. His parents are out of town.” 

“And you don't tell me until now?” 

Keith heard the anger building in Shiro’s voice, so he decided to try and be a little less snappy. “I'm sorry, Shiro.” 

Shiro sighed “It's okay, I just need to know these things in advance.”

Lance groaned as if he were in pain,  which he probably was. He looked over at Keith who was motioning for Lance to copy him. He was holding his stomach and slightly leaning forward. Shiro must have seen in the rearview mirror, because he instinctively slowed the car down. “Woah. Hey, Buddy. You feel like you're gonna be sick? I can stop the car.”

“I don't know…” Lance managed. Which he really didn't know because he had no clue what being “sick” meant in this context. But he definitely was exhausted. 

“That's it.” Shiro said and he pulled off to the side of the road. 

“What are you doing?!” Keith asked. “We have to get home!”

“Keith, we might have to take him to the hospital. If someone gets this bad this fast, then something could be seriously wrong!”

“Shiro, can we just go home? Please.” 

Shiro had to think long and hard about the current situation. It would be in the boy's best interest to go to the hospital. That way, Lance could get proper treatment and Keith could get his eye checked out. “Ughhh. Fine. We will take him home. But later, I'm taking you in for your eye. It looks pretty bad. And I want to make sure everything internal is alright.”

Keith had no choice but to agree to these terms. Arguing with Shiro was incredibly difficult. So Keith often tried to avoid it altogether. “Okay. Can we hurry though. Before Lance does get sick.”

“Yeah, but if he does, you have to deal with it.” Shiro said with a chuckle. 

“Oh come on! But I'm hurt, Shiro. That wouldn't be very nice.”

“Your friend. Your responsibility.” 

Once they got home, Keith immediately rushed Lance up to his room. Shiro called after him. “Hey, don't you think he should stay down here?”

“Nah. I’ve got it. Right now…”

“Alright, if you say so. If you need anything. Come get me.”

“M’kay.”

Keith closed his door and immediately breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at Lance who looked like he was sleeping. The water that showed through the disguise looked like little sweat droplets. The hair above his forehead was plastered on his face. His cheeks glowed a faint red. Keith shook his shoulder to get his attention. “Hey, Lance. We’re alright. You can stop now. It's fine.” 

Instantly, the projection faded and what was left was a vague watery silhouette of the human boy, Lance. He lifted up his fingers and moved them down. His body temperature returned to normal. The red in his human cheeks remained on his water form, but soon disappeared. 

“Ughhhh.” Lance said. Falling forward. Keith caught him by the shoulders. 

“You alright?” 

“Yeah. I feel much better now that I don't have to project. I had no clue it would only last that long. I thought I was stronger.” His voice trailing off at the end. 

“Maybe it's because of all you've done today.” Keith said reassuringly. “I mean. That flashback must have taken a lot out of you. And the healing. Not to mention your escape from spirit prison.”

“Yeah. I guess.” Lance said sadly. “I just need to recharge my powers. Or as you humans put it ‘I need to rest’.” 

Keith chuckled. “Any specific way you need to do that.”

“No, but I must be in complete water form. I cannot hold this humanoid figure. So a place where I can do that would be good.”

Keith searched around his room for anything Lance could use, like a bucket or large bowl. Nothing. Suddenly, it hit him. He grabbed Lance and dragged him to the bathroom. “How ‘bout there?” He said pointing to the big white bathtub. 

“Perfect!” Lance said excitedly. He rushed over and jumped in. His body melted down into a pool of water, swishing in the tub. Keith decided to go talk to Shiro so that he wouldn't get too suspicious. He walked downstairs into the kitchen. Shiro was standing at the stove stirring something in a large yellow pot. Shiro noticed Keith's presence and removed the spoon and placed a lid over the pot. “You have some explaining to do.”

“About…?”

“Hmmm. Let me think… oh that's right. Your eye!”

“Oh yeahhh. About that…”

“Please don't tell me you got in a fight.”

“They started it!”

“Oh my god.”

“I swear, Shiro!”

“Who hit first?”

“Uhhh.”

“Keith!”

“Me, alright!?”

Shiro sighed and put his hands on his hips. “Keith, we have been over this. You have to control your anger.”

“I try! But it's so hard. I just snap. And then I just do stuff. Without thinking.”

“You need to learn to control that.”

“I can't!”

“Yes, you can.” Shiro slammed his metal hand on the counter top. The clear sound rang out and silenced both of them. Keith spun around and bolted back to his room. He only vaguely heard Shiro yelling after him. But he didn't acknowledge him. 

He knew he was acting childish. He knew this was stupid and he shouldn't act like this. He knew he should just listen to Shiro. But it was so hard for him. 

He jumped on his bed and grabbed the sketchbook and colored pencils sitting next to his bed. He turned to the next clear page and furiously started throwing down colors. He didn't know what he was drawing. He let his hands move freely across the page. 

Keith only realized halfway through that he was drawing Lance in his water form. Blues splashed across the page. Purples and pinks laced their way through streams of blue. Greens dotted the water flowing across the page. Reds even found their way dancing on the shadows of the figure. Keith kept drawing until his eyelids grew heavy. His hands hurt every so slightly from the continuous movements. He let his consciousness drift away into a realm of darkness and dreams where he would be freed by the chains of reality that continually devoured him from the inside out. 

*     *     *

Keith woke up to find he hadn't changed out of his clothes from the previous night. He was still wearing the same red hoodie and denim jeans. His head was pounding and there was a dull pain that spread across the whole left side of his face. He didn't notice the person sitting on the edge of his bed until they spoke. “Hey, you awake, buddy?” It was Shiro. 

Keith didn't answer. He was still angry at Shiro for last night. He didn't move and avoided looking at Shiro. He turned his head so the bruised side wouldn't show. Shiro kept on talking to him. “I know you don't want to hear this, but we need to go to a doctor. I'm worried something could be fractured.” 

Keith didn't say anything again. Shiro saw the open sketchbook on the bed. “What's this?” He asked curiously. 

Keith finally reacted. He snatched the book away from Shiro and quickly closed it. “I told you to never look through my sketchbook. It's personal…” his voice grew softer. 

“Oh right. I forgot.” Shiro said. “Now that I have your attention, let's go and get this over with. Lance!” He called. 

Thankfully, Lance answered. “Yeah?”

“We will be gone for a couple hours. Are you okay by yourself?”

“Yeah. I'm fine. I feel a lot better today.” 

“Great! Help yourself to any food downstairs.”

Shiro knew it would be impossible to get Keith to leave the bed, so he grabbed him by the hand and quite literally dragged Keith out of the mass of blankets and pillows. Keith hit the floor but there was no reaction, so Shiro kept going. When he got to the stairs, he stopped. “I don't want to drag you down the stairs, Keith.”

“Then throw me down them, please.” He mumbled. Shiro still heard. 

“Aw don't talk like that.”

Keith shot him a glare. Shiro immediately stopped talking, but he did force Keith to get up. When they got to the kitchen, Shiro stopped. “You want anything to eat, kiddo?” 

Keith hadn't thought about food in a while, he expected to be hungry, but he really wasn't. “No.”

“Oh c’mon. You haven't eaten in awhile. And you probably won't get to eat until after we get back from the hospital.”

“I don't want anything.”

“But you ne-.”

“I don't want anything. My shoulder hurts. Lets get this over with.”

"You probably dislocated it or something. It looks a little crooked right now."

 

This time, Keith sat in the front seat, next to Shiro. So that meant his left side was facing Shiro, who finally got to see it. He didn't saw anything about it though. “So how was Lance last night?” 

“Fine. Not fine. Better now.” 

“That's good to hear. Did he ever throw up or anything?”

“Nope.”

“That's a good sign then. I'm sure he will be alright.” 

*     *     *

The rest of the trip was silent except for the quiet radio playing in the background. Keith just leaned against the window and looked outside, watching the scenery. It was, quite possibly, the longest drive to the hospital ever. 

When they walked into the tall building, Shiro went to the reception desk and Keith sat in one of the chairs. He made the mistake of resting his head on his left hand leaving him with a pain from his cheekbone up to his eyebrow. He didn't make a sound though for he didn't want to attract any attention. 

There weren't many other people in the waiting room. There was a family though. Well a dad and two kids. The little girl was studying Keith. When he looked up and saw her, she bolted over. “What happened to your face?”

This girl looked to be about seven or eight. She had long golden hair and a cute purple dress on. Her hair was tied up into two pigtails held by two big purple bows. Her eyes were big and round. They were light brown in color. 

“Uhhh.”

“Why’s it kinda purple?”

Keith didn't really want to talk to anyone right now. Especially a child, but Shiro would kill him if he was mean to a little kid. “I got hurt. Why are you here?”

“My mommy was sick. They said she is just fine now. We are waiting for her to come out here so we can all go home. Daddy says we can have a huge dinner tonight, just for her.”

“Katie!” The girl turned towards the voice. The man had short grayish hair. “Don't bother other people.” He looked at Keith. “I'm sorry about my daughter.”

“It's fine.” Just then, somebody holding a clipboard walked in and called Keith's name. He got up from his spot and joined Shiro. They followed the person to one of the back rooms. Keith sat in the examination chair in the center of the room. He always hated hospitals. Ever since he almost drowned. He was trying to be as calm as possible. 

They asked him questions. He gave them answers. It was no different from any other doctors visit. They took him back for x-rays to check for any fractures. They asked him more questions, shined lights in his eyes. Finally, they left the room and it was just him and Shiro left. 

“Your shoulder still hurting? Are we going to have to get a sling so you can rest it?”

“Ugh, I hope not.”

“How hard did they hit you?”

“I don't know.” Keith said defensively. “They slammed me against a shelf twice though.” 

About ten minutes later, the doctor came in with his clipboard in hand. “Externally, it's just a bruise as you can obviously see. It may look worse because it is located near the eye, but this isn't the worst I've seen. But there are things you can do to reduce swelling around the eye itself.” He handed Keith a piece of paper with instructions on it. He also handed one to Shiro. “Make sure he does these.”

He continued. “After reviewing the x-rays, we found no fractures or breaks or anything like that. Although it did reveal that you dislocated your right shoulder. I'm sure you were aware that there was something out of place." 

Now that he thought about it, it did feel weird. He pulled back the sleeve of his t-shirt and sure enough, his shoulder was crooked.  _ That's why it hurt so bad…  _

The doctor continued speaking. "So we just need to put it back into place, that's all. It's a very simple procedure. Although you may feel some pain as we begin to push it back. Then you should feel a pop and pretty soon after, it should feel better." 

Shiro nodded and then looked at Keith who looked downright terrified. His eyes were darting side to side as if to look for an escape route.shiro could see his breaths getting quicker. _  Oh no  _ he thought  _ He's starting to panic _ . Shiro quickly got up from his seat next to the doctor. He knelt in front of Keith. "Hey kiddo. Hey. Look at me." It was as though Keith couldn't hear him. 

"No... please don't..." 

_ Damn. He's remembering that time when he was little. I need to snap him out of it. _

"Keith. Hey listen. You are fine. Everything is fine." Keith looked at Shiro, eyes blown wide. "Hey. Do you want some meds to help you calm down. You have those right?"

"Yes sir. I can call up a nurse." The doctor replied. He reached for the phone on the wall.    
Shiro turned back to Keith who was frantically looking around. His hand started shaking. "They are getting you something Keith. It's okay. You will feel fine in a little bit."

After a couple minutes a nurse came into the room with a miniature cup with some liquid in it. She walked over to Keith. "Here you are sweetie. Drink this and you will start to calm down."   
Keith took it with a shaky hand and took it like a shot. Shiro pressed down on his good shoulder encouraging him to lay down. 

"How long should it take to work?" Shiro asked. 

"Only a few minutes. I'll go ahead and get the doctor who will be doing the procedure. When we return, he should be significantly calmer."

A new doctor showed up and explained what they were going to be doing to Keith’s shoulder. At this point, the medicine was taking effect and Keith was a little dazed. For some reason, in the past, this stuff had really worked well on him. Maybe even a little too much. 

“The best thing is to rest and not get in any fights. I would predict that it should only be a few days. Like I said, it's very minor if even there at all.” 

The doctor released them and when they got to the lobby, Keith saw the little girl, Katie, still pacing around. When she saw Keith, she ran up to him. “Your back!” She said excitedly.    
“Are you okay?” 

“Yeah. Your mom not back yet?”

Katie looked down at the floor. “No. I'm worried. Will she come soon? I asked daddy, but he wouldn't answer me.”

Keith got down on his knees so he would be eye level with her. “I'm sure she is going to be just fine. Besides, the doctors said she was. Trust them. They know what they're doing.” 

She looked up at him and smiled “Okay!” 

Shiro called for Keith to hurry. He was already in the doorway waiting for Keith to come. When they got in the car, Shiro burst into laughter. “What's so funny?” Keith demanded. 

“Man. You got beat up pretty bad. I thought you were good at fighting."

Keith’s cheeks turned red from embarrassment. “It was two against one. And they were practically twice my size!"

"And they took out your arm. Man I might need to enroll you in some self defense classes. Maybe later since you can't really use that arm right now."

"Shiro!"

"What?"

"Can we just go home already...please...?"

Shiro went quiet. "Yeah." The car ride back was just as long as the way up except this one was completely silent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello there. I hope you are all enjoying this story. I'm sorry it took me so long to update it last time. I have the first 5 chapters written and the end mostly done, so I just need to fill in the middle there. Please don't get mad at me if it takes a while. I am a very anxious person who is dealing with college right now. Thanks!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More about Lance's backstory

Back at the house, Lance was completely alone. He stayed in the bath tub for a while but now, he could hold a humanoid form. He didn't want to leave the bathroom because he was afraid he would mess something up. 

That didn't last long. Being in a bathtub was incredibly boring. He got up and went downstairs in their kitchen. He didn't know what human food was like so he didn't bother with that. However, he did see a glass of water on the counter top. 

“Hmmm. I haven’t got to have a little fun in a while.”

He flicked his index finger upward and a single drop of water flew up in the air. He took two fingers on his other hand and dragged them down. The drop of water turned into a small frozen crystal of water. It dropped to the ground, but Lance stopped it before it hit. He moved his fingers back up and the drop turned to liquid for a split second then turned to a cloudy spot of steam. 

Steam was always a lot harder to control because its molecules were more spread out and trying to wrangle them at once takes a whole lot of concentration. But it was possible, and for a spirit as skilled as Lance, it comes fairly naturally. But, that still doesn’t mean it is easy. 

He spun his finger in a circle and the steam followed the trail. Swirling all around the room. He stopped it above the glass and turned it back into water, the drop splashing in the glass. This time he pulled out all of the water from the glass. He heated the water until it turned to steam, but this time requiring much more concentration. 

He gathered it all in a cloud above his head and then spinning his finger in a circle, the steam formed a sort of vortex. Then he got an idea. He turned it back into water and dropped it all on the ground. Then he moved his fingers down, creating a thin layer of sparkling ice. Lance carefully walked over to the ice and stepped on. His feet instantly sliding around. 

“I believe this is what humans call ice skating.” Lance said as his body glided across the ice with perfect grace. He apparently had a talent for anything that had to do with water whether he knew about it or not. He skated all around the couch and the whole living room for that matter. This was the most fun Lance has had in his entire life. Thinking about his life had caused him to lose focus and he tripped over his own feet causing himself to tumble into a table. The pain caused memories of his childhood to resurface.

*     *     *     

“Young Spirit.” a voice boomed on the other side of Lance’s door. 

“Yes?” replied Lance in a very polite voice.

“The Guardian has requested to see you.”

Lance got up and walked to his door. He opened it and on the other side was one of the Guardians soldiers. They didn’t even wait for a response from Lance before grabbing on to his arm and pulling him towards the Guardians meeting rooms. 

The young spirit, Lance, was placed in a chair that faced the most powerful being in their entire community. The Guardian always displayed a look of intimidation with a hint of anger. Lance was not going to lie, even though he had been raised by the Guardian, which made him like a father to Lance, he was still terrified of him. “It is time for you to begin, young one.”

“Begin what?” Lance asked innocently.

“Training.” The Guardian said bluntly. “As you know, one spirit is chosen to be the successor of the Guardian, and because you have been in my care your whole life, I feel as though you would be the best candidate to take up my position when I am no longer here.”

“Alright…?” Lance was kind of confused because he was not sure why he must begin training at such a young age. He also did no see how he was capable of such a position. “But sir, I can’t even control my powers yet. How am I supposed to follow in your footsteps?”

“That is why we must begin your training now. It will be rigorous sessions and you will learn to control your powers, learn new powers, and learn what you must do to protect this lake and all of its inhabitants. I believe that you can do it. If you agree, there will be no turning back, no matter the circumstances.”

“Okay. I agree.” Even though he was scared, Lance was more scared of what would happen if he had said no. 

 

The first session began a few hours later. He walked into the room that he was told to go to. In the room sat the Guardian and nothing more. Behind him, there were three large doors.

“Welcome to your first training session. To be a Guardian of your kind, you must first know your kind. You must be able to feel all of their life forces and feel any abnormalities. We will begin with some easy tasks. First close your eyes and try to find the soldier behind one of those doors. 

Lance sat in the middle of the room and faced the doors. He closed his eyes and focused on finding any kind of sensory information that would notify that there was a spirit somewhere nearby. After a few minutes without any results, he opened his eyes and nobody was there. He looked around panicked. 

“Guardian?” Lance yelled. “Where are you? What am I doing wrong?” A voice suddenly appeared in his head. 

“I told you this would be simple, but in fact, it is far from that. This skill is essential in becoming the Guardian. If you cannot master it, you will die.”

“Why will I die?” Lance asked, scared.

“You will not be released from this room until you can find me in the castle. You must sense my life force and tell me where I am. Only then, will you be released and we will continue with your training.”

“You can’t do this!” 

“Oh yes I can. You verbally agreed. I told you that there is no turning back once you agreed to the proposition.”

“Please! Let me go!!” 

This time, there was no response. He was alone in the silence of this room. He began to panic. He didn’t even know how to try to find one’s life force. He had no clue what they even felt like. He sat in the middle of the room and cried. He screamed for someone to help him. There was nothing. 

Eventually, Lance exhausted himself to sleep. When he woke up, he thought for a moment that it had all been a bad dream. But when he realized that he was still alone, his heart sank. He began to try to sense again. It was almost as if he was meditating. He controlled his breathing and focused on feeling for something familiar. He figured that the Guardian wanted Lance to find him first because he knows him the best. Lance has spent his whole life with the Guardian. He should be able to easily locate him. Nothing was happening though. He got so frustrated that he began to kick the door, hoping he could bust his way out. All that did was injure his foot to the point where he could not bear weight on it. 

It had been a few days since the 8-year old spirit had been placed in the room. His body was growing weaker and weaker by the minute. He had not been allowed to recharge since training had begun. If he became too weak, he would not be able to prevent himself from dissipating in the water and ultimately dying. 

He had to do this. He used up all the energy he had left and closed his eyes and began to search. It was as if his mind was walking through the halls of the castle. Suddenly, he saw a huge green light emerge in front of him. There was a warmth emanating from it. He reached out and could feel the life that was contained within. This had to be the Guardian. 

“I found you!” Lance yelled at the top of his lungs. “You are three halls down. You are standing right outside my door….” His voice trailed off as his vision went black and he fell to the ground unconscious. 

 

Lance opened his eyes and was in a room that he had little to no experience with. He was laying on a white platform and there were Healers all around him. The Guardian was nowhere to be found. One of the Healers spoke to Lance. “Hello sweetheart.” she said in a soft voice, something all Healers had in common. “We are glad that you are awake. The Guardian told us not to worry, but you still gave us a scare when we found you in the room with such a low life force.”

Another Healer spoke up. “You have been charging for the past three days. You should be good as new. The Guardian is working right now, but we were told to give you your next task.”

Lance sighed. “Will it be just as difficult?” 

“Shouldn’t be.” said one of the Healers sweetly. “We are going to help you. You must learn to channel healing powers. That is an important job of the Guardian.”

“What am I supposed to heal, exactly?”

“Lets begin with yourself. Your ankle to be exact. You damaged it pretty badly so we need to fix that up and what better way than to have you practice it yourself.”

“And how do I do that? Or am I supposed to figure that one out on my own also.” Lance was getting annoyed.

“No. We will help you. Healing powers are channeled through your wrists and out through your hands. See.” She closed her eyes and her wrists glowed green. Ribbons of water began to circle them forming what looked like bracelets. 

Lance decided to try. He closed his eyes and focused on his wrists and a warm feeling washed over them. He opened his eyes and was amazed to see glowing ribbons of water formed around his wrists. He carefully guided them over to his injured ankle and the ribbons took over and circled around the ankle. He felt the pain slowly dissipate from his foot and he was left with a faint warmth when the ribbons returned to his wrists. 

Suddenly, he felt very tired and layed back down. The Healer who demonstrated came up next to Lance and put her hand on his shoulder. “Wow. I have never seen someone perform so well on their first try. No wonder you are tired.”

After that, Lance did not have to work on his healing powers that much because he was already very proficient in  it. For the next couple of days, Lance worked on his life force sensing. He would locate the Guardian and then he would locate others. 

 

“Lance!” the Guardian called to to the young spirit through his door. “I have a different sort of training for you today.” 

Lance burst through the door almost hitting the Guardian in face. “Oooo! Really?” he said with excitement. Lance had been tired of performing the same task of finding the Guardian in different parts of the castle and was happy to hear that he could do something else for once. The Guardian and Lance walked to their usual room and Lance stood in the center.

“This time you will search for some other sensation.” the Guardian said.

“What do you mean by that?”

“You will know. Now begin.”

Lance sat down and closed his eyes. He focused all of his energy on trying to find this new sensation. He searched everywhere and he found nothing. He clenched his fists and poured more energy into his search making sure he didn’t miss a single room in the entire castle. There was nothing. He felt blind to the world around him. He stood up and faced the Guardian. 

“Why can’t I find it?”

“Because you are looking in the wrong place.”

“What?”

“Just sense. Do not locate that sense. Just feel it.”

Lance closed his eyes once more. He allowed every part of his form to relax. He focused only on the sensations and not on the physical locations within the castle. Just then, Lance felt a sharp pain rip through his chest. His focus broke and he fell to his knees clutching his chest wishing the burning would cease. “What is going on?” he asked, his voice filled with panic. 

The Guardian walked over to the spirit and placed a hand on his shoulder. “You cannot only sense when a life force is present, but you can also sense the condition of that particular life force. In this case, you can sense when it is compromised.”

“Why do I have to feel pain also?”

“They are your subjects. You need to know them well. You need to know when they are in danger so that you may assist them. You will soon come to understand that. Tell me, what was it that has hurt this life force.”

“And how do I do that?”

“This is when you must locate the source. You could not before because you did not know what you were looking for but now that you have that knowledge, you should find yourself able to distinguish this sensation from others.”

Lance focused in on it and attempted to locate it. His mind wandered into the prison cells where he saw a red light emitting from one of the spirits in a cell. They were struggling to break free of the chains on their wrists. Lance could hear it calling out. “Let me out.” It yelled. “Let me go. You have no right to keep me locked up like this.”

Lance turned towards the Guardian. “It was trying to escape, wasn’t it?” Lance asked.

“Precisely.” replied the Guardian. “Now take this as a lesson to never try to escape our safe home or bad things will come your way.”

“Okay.” Lance said looking down towards the ground. The Guardian began to walk away. “Wait!” Lance called after him.

“What is it, young one?”

“Why would they try to escape? They must have had a reason. And why are they in pain in there? I thought we were supposed to help those who were in pain. I need to go help them…” Lance’s voice trailed off as he walked towards the open door leading to the prison grounds. 

A whip of water shot past Lance slamming the doors with such a loud boom that Lance almost fell on his butt. He whipped around in fright and there stood the Guardian, only mere inches from his face. 

“Nobody is allowed to go near those filthy prisoners let alone help them. If you so much as speak of them again like that, you will end up in a cell right alongside them.”

Lance ran. He was so scared that all he could do was run. He heard the Guardian yell behind him but he kept going until he was far away in a part of the castle where he had never been before. There were halls so long and dark that Lance was almost too scared to walk down them. He heard familiar voices towards the end though, so he pressed on. 

His whole body hurt, but mostly his chest. As the voices got louder, the pain increased. He soon figured out that he was in the prison. The voice he heard was the one he has listened to during his training just minutes ago. 

He took off running towards the voice at the end of the hall. He reached the cell and when he looked in, his chest seared with pain. In front of him was a spirit with chains wrapped around their wrists. They were attached to the floor so that they could not move far from the spot they were in. The looked weak. Their water form dwindled in front of Lance, barely able to keep from dissolving into the surrounding water. 

When Lance reached out his small hand, the spirit flinched and begged to not be tortured any more. “I am not here to hurt you, I promise.” Lance said, his voice shaking. “I want to help. Can I please see your hand?”

The frightened prisoner slowly reached out his hand as far as it would go. Lance closed his eyes and focused on the healing powers in his wrists. The glowing bracelets formed around his wrists and he concentrated on sending them over to the prisoner. The ribbons glided through the cell bars and connected with the arm of the prisoner. They swirled around the arm and glowed even brighter as Lance put more of his energy into it. He could tell that this was not a good idea as he was growing exhausted quickly.

At his limit, the young spirit retracted the glowing ribbons and as soon as the green faded away, Lance’s strength left him. As he fell to the ground, he heard the prisoner thank him over and over again. 

 

Lance opened his eyes only to find himself surrounded by darkness. The only other figure with him was that of an older spirit, fighting to stay alive. Lance wasn’t even trying to get a read on their status, but he could feel the life force fading fast. It hurt, so much. Lance grasped at his chest begging to make the feeling go away. There was no energy left in the elder spirit. 

Then it was gone.

All at once, Lance felt as though someone had ripped something out of him. A piece of him was missing. He looked down and saw that there was a hole in his chest exactly where the pain had come from before. He started screaming in agony. He was scared and in pain and all he wanted was for this torture to stop, but it wouldn’t. 

Something grabbed Lance by the shoulders and quite literally pulled him from the hellish nightmare. He was still screaming as tears formed around his eyes  only to blend with the water around them moments later. 

“Lance!” He heard a voice yell. “Lance. Snap out of it!”

Lance could not stop screaming. The pain felt so real. The voice spoke calmly to Lance as they tried to calm him down. Eventually, the screaming ceased and Lance opened his eyes. The Guardian was holding the young spirit in his arm and a whole team of Healers were right behind them. One of the Healers noticed Lance’s tears. “Sir, what is that coming out of his eyes?” She asked innocently. 

The Guardian’s eyes opened wide. “Go. Now.” He said suddenly. “Your assistance is no longer required. Go back to the infirmary.” 

The girls did not question him and they all left. Lance remained in the Guardian’s arms. Lance looked down at his chest but there was no hole despite the lingering pain. 

“W-what happened?” Lance asked shakily. “How did I get in here?”

“One of the Healers said she found you unconscious in the halls after you ran from our training session.”

“What happened?” Lance asked again. 

“Did you see an elder spirit?”

“Yes.” Lance said, tears forming again. “He wasn’t real though, right? This was all just a bad dream right?”

“I’m afraid not. Everything you felt was real. Everything that happened was real. You felt a spirit die. I’m so sorry. I should have warned you.”

“Why does it hurt so bad?”

“Because they are your subjects. They become a part of your very existence when you assume the role as the Guardian. When they die, a part of you fades away. That is why you must protect them. This transition between Guardians typically does not happen this quickly, but you are so powerful that it is already happening. I’m sorry, young one.”

Lance stayed in his room for the next few days. He couldn’t bring himself to go out there. He shut himself off from everyone and everything. He no longer wanted to feel all this pain. It was all too much for a spirit of such a young age. 

“Lance. Please come out. I have more that I want to teach you.” The Guardian said. 

There was no response. 

“Please. I want to take you to the surface.” 

This caught Lances attention. Only the Guardian was allowed at the surface. Anyone who dared go up there unless permitted would be punished severely. Lance got up and walked to the door. He opened it and there stood the Guardian. This was the first time that he showed up there himself. Usually a Soldier was sent or Lance was just called. 

“What will we do at the surface?”

“I need to teach you how to protect the lake. We have certain defense mechanisms that are used to rid the lake of anything that we do not want in there. Like humans for example.”

“What are humans?”

“They are evil beings who live beyond the surface and all they do is cause destruction to our home and our people.”

“Why do they want to hurt us.”

“They only care about themselves. They exist for the sole purpose of hurting us.”

And with that, Lance followed the Guardian out to the middle of the lake. “Okay, we must practice first before you can go up there. Now we can manipulate the water around us. Typically, to get rid of unwanted beings, we create a wave that pushes it out. Very rarely do we use violent tactics to defend ourselves.”

“How will I know if it is a human who is hurting us?”

“Their life forces feel dark and cold. You will know.”

Lance spent a few hours practicing his water manipulation and he worked on fishing out little things like bugs and leaves from the trees overhead. The Guardian placed his hand on Lance’s shoulder. “I need to go back to the castle to take care of some things. Will you be alright out here by yourself?”

“Suuure. Nothing ever happens out here.” Lance said sarcastically.

“Now now. Do not take this task lighty. It possesses great importance to our people.” The Guardian turned and walked in the opposite direction. Lance sat down on the base of the lake.. He looked up at the sunlight that streamed in from the sky above. 

A couple bugs fell in and Lance pushed them out gently. Then, something much larger than a bug fell in the lake. This thing had a life force. Strangely, it had a certain warmth to it. So it must not be a human. Lance went to the surface to check on the situation. Before he could get there, he felt a familiar sharp pain in his chest. Whatever had fallen in the water, it was dying. Lance had to get it out so that he wouldn’t be in pain any longer. He summoned a wave and pushed the object on the bank. 

He appeared at the surface and saw that what he pushed out looked kind of like him. This object had a body and shape just like him.  _ Is this a human child? _ Lance thought. He then heard yelling from far off in the distance. 

“Keith!!”

The name was repeated over and over. The voice was getting close. Lance dove back under the water and raced to the bottom. He could not be seen by anything. If he was seen, he would be killed. He yelled for the Guardian. 

“Lance! What is it?” The Guardian arrived in mere moments because he used his water travel to reach Lance. 

“Something fell in the water.” Lance was panting. “I think it was a human.”

“You got it out? Didn’t you?” 

“Of course.” Lance decided to leave out the part about the warmth in the human’s life force. This piece of information could get him in trouble. 

The truth was, Lance did not develop a hatred towards humans. In fact, he was interested in them. He wanted to know more about them. He could not sense any malicious intentions coming from the child’s life force. Obviously it was not bad because it had the same warmth as a spirits life force. Lance spent every night dreaming about getting to meet humans again one day. One name kept repeating itself in Lance’s mind.

_ Keith _

That name was the light in the young spirits life. When training got especially tough, Lance would remember the human boy, Keith, and he would find a new strength within him. 

Every time Lance brought up humans, the Guardian went on a huge rant about how awful humans were and how all they did was destroy. Lance knew he was wrong though. He knew that Keith was not trying to hurt anyone. He was only admiring nature. 

 

Lance was summoned into the Enforcers quarters one afternoon. It had been a few years since he had encountered his first -and last- human. He had not lost interest in the human boy, Keith. In fact, Lance found himself more curious than ever at this point in his life. Most of his days were filled with basic training. Except today. This would be the first time Lance was ever allowed to go into the Enforcer’s quarters. 

Inside the room, Lance expected to meet up with some Enforcers, but instead, he was met with the Guardian. Lance sighed and sauntered over to the Guardian. 

“Lance.” his voice was as powerful as ever, but Lance had heard it enough that he was no longer phased by it. 

“Yes?” Lance asked without making eye contact with the figure that stood in front of him.

“Today is a special day, young one.” His sternness broke and what remained was a voice filled with enthusiasm. “Today you get to choose your very own weapon.”

Lance was shocked. “Spirits do not wield weapons unless they are Enforcers.”

“Normally, you would be correct, but Guardians must possess a weapon in case they must find it necessary to defend their kind. My trident is my weapon that I selected when I was your age.”

The Guardian led Lance through the back door and they entered a room where the walls were decorated with weapons. Every weapon Lance could ever think of found a place of its own on the walls of this room. “How will I ever be able to choose just one?” Lances eyes widened as his gaze found its way to the spear like weapons. 

The Guardian laughed. “Take your time, my boy. There's no need to rush. The weapon you select will call out to you. You just have to find it.” 

Lance began walking around the room, examining each and every weapon that hung on the walls. He came across a box that was  sitting in the corner. It was a maroon color and it was roughly three feet across. As he passed it, not wanting to bother looking inside, a warmth flooded his body. As soon as he stepped in the opposite direction, his body grew icy cold so Lance scrambled back to the box. He dropped to his knees and touched the top of the box.

Warmth exploded through his hand and made its way through his body. Gently unhooking the clasps, Lance propped the top open. Inside, there lay a half moon shape object. Blue with a wave-like pattern carved into it, the object seemed to glow right before Lance’s eyes. The material was held in this curved shape by a thin string connected to each end. Next to the strange object, there was a container of thin rods of some kind of metal that were decorated with what looked like feathers on the tips. 

Although he knew nothing of this mysterious object, Lance’s body knew exactly what to do. He picked up the curved object and held it in his left hand with the string facing him. His hand moved to grab the feathered rod and placed it with the curved object. He balanced the rod with his hand while pulling back on the string with the rod with it. His body turned towards the human like figure in the middle of the room. With one eye closed, Lance slowed his breathing and focused on the target. He released the rod and the sudden force of the string whipping forward caused Lance to fall on his butt. 

The sound caused the Guardian to look up. His eyes widened as he ran over to Lance who remained on the ground in shock. “Where did you get that from?” He asked sternly. 

Lance snapped out of his shock and looked up at the Guardian. “It was in that red box over there. I felt it calling to me. I was just going to pass over it, but I couldn't help myself. Is there something wrong?”

“I told them to get rid of that.” The Guardian said under his breath. “Yes. That weapon is no longer allowed in this kingdom. For some reason,  _ this _ particular one remained here. Alright, give it here, boy. You cannot have it.”

“But it chose me!” Lance said defiantly. “It called out to me. I even knew how to use it.”

“You may think that, but this weapon is not easily mastered. A young spirit like you would likely have not even hit the target…” The Guardian’s voice trailed off as he looked at the dummy in the middle of the room. Sticking right out of the left side of the chest, was the rod that Lance fired. “You… hit it….”

“So I can keep it?”

“Absolutely not! Return that weapon to me at once.”

“But it chose me. It was meant for me to use. I can feel it. I feel connected to it.”

“What you feel is wrong!” The Guardian reached for the weapon. “Give me the bow!” 

“No!” Lance yelled. His body moved on its own drawing the bow up again. This time, one of the feathered rods materialized out of water and turn to solid ice. The tip of the icy rod was pointed right at the Guardians forehead. He felt the power surging through his arms all the way through his fingertips. 

“Lance. Stop!” The Guardian yelled. “Enforcers! Healers!” 

Spirits streamed into the room where the standoff was happening. Lance’s eyes glowed blue with the power that enveloped his mind and body. He was losing all sense of control. It was as if the bow had taken over his body. He used all his strength to no release the rod at the Guardian. Suddenly, Lance was tackled to the ground. The weapon was removed from his hands, but the power still remained. He screamed and struggled wanting this to stop. 

One of the Healer came next to him with a syringe and she plunged it into Lance’s arm. His body went limp. The power left his body like a running faucet. “What… did you do…?” Lance asked weakly. Everyone ignored his question and one of the Enforcers picked him up. As they were rushing out of the room, Lance caught sight of his bow. The shining blue crescent lay on the ground next to where the Guardian was standing. “My...bow…” Lances vision faded to darkness. 

 

Lance awoke in the infirmary. Again. Next to his bed was the Guardian. He was holding the maroon box that contained Lance’s bow. “What happened to me?”

“You were overcome with the power of this bow and we had to sedate you before anyone got hurt.”

“Oh.” Lance said. “I’m sorry. I truly did not intend for this to happen.”

“I know. I do not blame you for this happening. The bow and arrow is quite a hard weapon to wield.”

“Why is that?”

“It is a land weapon. Originally wielded by humans. Spirits cannot easily control the weapon because it is not designed for their kind.”

“Then why do we have one?”

“I once knew someone who was very fond of this type of weapon. They were extremely skilled with one. This belonged to them. I guess they forgot to get rid of it.”

“When will I be able to select a new weapon then?”

“That will not be necessary. I have decided to allow you to keep it. Until you master your powers, it will remain disguised as this clip.” The Guardian handed Lance a blue crescent clip. Lance hesitantly grabbed it and clipped it in his hair to keep his bangs out of the way. 

“Thank you, sir.”

 

It took years of enduring the pain of training and the desire of humans for Lance to consider escaping the lake. He had been watching Keith from the distance, and the longer he saw Keith, the more he wanted to meet him. He saw firsthand that Keith possessed a great love and respect for nature and all that did was fuel Lance’s desire. 

*     *     *

Suddenly, Lance heard the sounds of the door being unlocked and the muffled voices of Shiro and Keith. He opened his eyes and he was laying on the icy ground. He froze and didn’t know what to do. The door opened and Shiro was still facing Keith, who noticed Lance. He put his hand on his bruised eye and pretended to be in pain to distract Shiro.

“Oww!” Shiro immediately stopped what he was doing and rushed over to Keith. 

“Hey. Hey, Keith. You alright?”

“My eye.”

“Oh. Should I go get some ice or something?” Shiro turned towards the house but Keith grabbed his arm. “Huh?” 

Keith glanced at Lance, who realized that Keith was buying him some time. He raised the temperature and sloppily got the water in the sink with only a few little drops scattered around the counter top. He quickly ran to sit on the couch and pretend like he was sleeping. 

Shiro managed to get away from Keith’s hold on him and turned to go inside. Keith followed and went over to the couch. He acted like he was waking Lance up. “Hey, Lance. We’re back.”

Lance’s acting was on point because when Shiro returned to Keith with a cool pack, he didn’t even question Lance. “Oh, hey. You’re down here. Sorry for waking you. How’re you doing?” 

“I’m fine, now.” Lance said sleepily.

“That’s good.”

“Hey Keith, can we go back up to your room now?”

Keith glanced at Shiro and back to Lance. “Yeah of course. C’mon.” The two went upstairs and into Keith’s room. Keith turned and closed the door behind him. “What the hell were you doing?!?” He said in a whisper. 

“I was playing around with my powers.”

“You know how dangerous that is. We can’t have Shiro finding out.”

“I’m sorry, Keith.” Lance looked down to the floor. “I didn’t know when you would be home. I was lost in thoughts of my past.” He reached up to feel for his hair clip. It wasn’t there anymore. Lance’s eyes grew wide. He started pacing. 

“Woah hey. What’s wrong?”

“My clip. I need my clip. My hair clip. I can’t lose it. I can’t.”

“Slow down, Lance.” Keith put a hand on his shoulder and he flinched. “Why is this so important anyway?”

“It’s my bow. Like my weapon. It’s the only thing I have to protect myself. I need it.”

“What does it even look like?”

“Its blue and it looks like a little bow I guess.”

Keith walked over to his bedside table and opened the drawer. He pulled out a little blue clip and placed it in Lance’s hand. 

“You had it?!”

“Yeah . I found it on my floor earlier and put it there. Is everything okay.”

Lance smiled and placed his hands on Keith’s cheeks. He pulled him close and planted his lips right on Keith’s. Keith had no time to react but once he realized what was happening, he pushed Lance away from him.

“Why did you do that?” Keith asked, still shocked.

“I was happy! Do humans not do that?”

“Not like that.”

“Then when do they do it?”

“When two people love each other, usually.”

“Well I love you, don’t I? I left my lake for you because I’m so interested in you.”

“That’s not usually what happens. I’m going to go take a shower now. Please don’t destroy anything.”

“You got it!” Lance gave Keith a thumbs up and a sly wink. 

Keith walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Instead of turning on the water immediately, he slid to the floor. He felt his face getting hot.  _ Thank god I got out of there before he saw me blushing. I can’t believe he kissed me. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So quick update, I am done with chapter 6 so if u guys want that now, then let me know, otherwise, I'll probably wait a little bit to post it until I have more written. Also in like 3 weeks, I'll have a lot of free time, so I will try to write some then. Thanks for reading! I hope you have enjoyed so far.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! This story actually started out as a completely original piece with a bunch of ocs and stuff but I decided to adapt it to Klance. So that's pretty neat. I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you think.


End file.
